Just Open: The Star Hotel, South Melbourne

It's a pub with a colourful history. Now South Melbourne's Star Hotel starts a new chapter after an overhaul by the Reeb group, four business partners who specialise in building and interior styling. Gone are the blacked-in windows and low ceilings, making way for a mezzanine level.

Perhaps as a reaction to Melbourne's unpredictable weather, the interior has been dressed to resemble a beer garden with plants growing vertically, fake grass flooring and loads of natural light in the former live music den.

Ben Addison from the Reeb group says that while the 1854 pub can't be all things to all people, "there's a lot of choice in the venue".

The ground floor dining room offers booth seating and table service while the adjacent public bar is more relaxed, with television screens and bench seating.

Upstairs is a nightclub area, where they'll take advantage of the 3am licence with DJ at weekends and access to a rooftop bar.

The menu, by chef Danny Callen, will be available throughout the venue. He's given a wink to good pub grub with things like chicken parmigiana and a black angus burger, along with seasonal dishes such as house-made gnocchi with asparagus and broad beans and popular drinking food like pulled pork sliders and fried chicken wings. The drinks list is broad and accessibly priced.

Open daily from noon.

160 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, 9682 6288, starhotelsouthmelbourne.com.au